Tag Archives: Vegan Italian

Back in the Spring of 2000, I had my first taste of tomato cream (pink) sauce while visiting a college friend in Santa Barbara, California. For dinner, Reena took me to an Italian restaurant called Palazzio. There, I ordered rigatoni in pink sauce and after just one bite I fell in love with the dish.

After testing some recipes for tomato cream sauce, I came up with my own take of the delicious pink sauce that is vegan and gluten-free.

Here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! Buono Appetito!

1. Make the cashew cream by blend cashews with 1/4 cup plus 1-2 Tbsp of water for thinning until smooth. Set aside 1/3 cup. There will be some left over, which can be stored in the refrigerator to use later.

2. Bring salted water to a boil in a large saucepot. Then add pasta and cook until al dente.

1. Make the cashew cream by blend cashews with 1/4 cup plus 1-2 Tbsp of water for thinning until smooth. Set aside 1/3 cup. There will be some left over, which can be stored in the refrigerator to use later.

2. Bring salted water to a boil in a large saucepot. Then add pasta and cook until al dente.

I love Italian food and the day I go to Italy, I’m sure I’m going to have myself a big bowl of authentic pasta, even if there’s gluten or cheese in it. For now, I want to continue my detox, keep my body clean, free from toxic sludge, while still being able to enjoy my favorite Italian dishes.

After watching David Rocco make gnudi on “La Dolce Vita”, I was really craving a butternut squash gnudi. To make gnudi, one needs ricotta, and although I’m trying to stay away from soy, too, the only vegan ricotta recipes I found online were made with tofu. I used Morinaga organic, non-GMO firm tofu, to be safe.

My version of vegan ricotta was a delicious addition to my butternut squash gnudi. As for my gnudi, I would a post picture of them with the recipe; however, I used buckwheat flower and quenelle-shaped them. Can you just imagine? My husband thought they looked like Mr. Hanky from “South Park”, although they tasted yummy. My apologies for the visual.

I still need to learn how to work with amaranth, and all the other flours. It may take some time, but I will get there.

I’ll tweak the gnudi recipe a bit more, omit the buckwheat flour, and will post another time.

For now, I will share my vegan, gluten-free ricotta cheese recipe. This is perfect for lasagna, ravioli, and any other pasta recipe that requires ricotta! Enjoy!

Ingredients

8 oz tofu

1/2 tsp garlic, minced

1/2 tsp shallot, minced

1/2 tsp raw apple cider vinegar

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 tsp sunflower seed (or grapeseed) oil

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp fresh basil, chopped

1/2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped

sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Directions

Drain liquid from tofu. In a bowl, squeeze and crumble tofu. Add all other ingredients, mix and mash together until it looks like the real thing. Viola! Ricotta!